MAMMALS

The lemurs, in a case to the north, of this hall of the Brooklyn Museum, belong to the lowest division of the Order Primates, which contains also the monkeys, apes and man. The specimens shown include the gray lemur, smallest of the true lemurs, the ring-tailed lemur, one of the most beautiful, and the ruffed lemur, black-headed lemur, crown lemur, mongoose lemur and the aye-aye, a rare relative of the lemurs which resembles a squirrel.

In the large Primate case, which now faces the visitor of the Brooklyn Museum at the end of the hall of mammals, may be seen monkeys of the Old and New Worlds, the anthropoid apes and a model of an aboriginal Australian, to represent man.

The monkeys of the New World, shown at the left of the case, differ remarkably from those of the Old World, one important point of difference being the prehensile tails, by which the New World monkeys can cling and climb. Marmosets, or squirrel monkeys, howlers, the capuchin, or hooded monkey, and others of the New World are shown.

The Old World monkeys include the rare Entellus monkey, one of the sacred monkeys of India, the horse-tailed monkey and the Abyssinian baboon. The anthropoid apes are represented by the orang-utan and the chimpanzee. The gorilla is depicted on the wall on the left, accompanied by a map showing the distribution of the Order Primates.

The Central Hall of the mammals, reached through Room 5, contains the large animal groups, the eggs of North American birds and certain mineralogical exhibits.
Immediately facing the entry from Room 5 is a group of South Atlantic petrels, so planned that the observer appears to look over the side of a ship at sea and watch the sea birds skimming the water and careening in the air around the boat.

Facing this group of mammals, on each side of the entrance, are two window groups of South American birds and nests. One of the interesting points about the group on the right, showing a colony of Venezuelan orioles or hang-nests, is the fact that these birds seem always to choose the vicinity of wasps for their colonies, and the group shows the bird and wasp nests pendent from the same branch. The left-hand group shows a cave in the mountains of Trinidad, the home of the curious and rare guacharo, or oil bird, whose nest is plastered against the sides of the cave. The young birds are shown in every stage of growth. This bird belongs to a family related to the goatsuckers, but it lives exclusively on fruits, instead of on insects as do the true goatsuckers. The name "oil bird" is due to the abundant fat of the young birds, from which the natives prepare a colorless oil used instead of butter.
Continuing to the left, a group of beavers is exhibited next to the petrel group.

Eggs of North American birds are seen in a large case on the west wall, facing the beavers, and other cases of these eggs are ranged at intervals around this hall. Above the egg exhibit at this point, an interesting example of the skin of a fur seal illustrates the various stages in the preparation of the fur for use.

Still keeping to the left, a large window group showing the birds of the Pribilof Islands appears facing the visitor on the south wall. These rocky islands in Bering Sea are the home of myriads of sea birds (murres, auks, puffins, cormorants, gulls and others) which nest on the rocks or in burrows among them. About fifty specimens (representing ten species) are shown against a natural background of rock and sea.

To the right of this group, over the doorway, are the horns of a Spanish bull, South African steer and South American steer.
Continuing to the left around the hall, the first large floor group shows five specimens of Steller's sea lions, adults and young. These creatures of the North Pacific belong to the seal order, but their skins are not valuable for fur.
 
A special exhibit of birds' eggs in the floor case at this corner of this hall of the Brooklyn Museum emphasizes the more important facts to be discovered from a study of birds' eggs, such as the variation in size, color, markings, number of eggs in a clutch and relation between size of bird and egg. The egg of the JEpyornis, the large extinct bird related to the ostrich, is shown. This exhibit is intended to be studied in connection with the exhibits of eggs of North American birds shown in the series of cases in this hall.

One of the most interesting exhibits in the the Brooklyn Museum faces the visitor at the right (northeast) corner of the hall and illustrates the mechanism of flight in animals and the differentiation between gliding and flight proper. Skeletons of fore limbs, showing modifications for flight, deviation from the generalized type and relations to the human arm, include those of monkeys, opossum, bat, ostrich, pterodactyl or flying reptile and the reptile-like bird Archceopteryx.

To the left, some examples of reversion to type, as shown by the domestic fowl, may be properly compared with the exhibit in Room 5, illustrating Variation under Domestication.
Proceeding up the north side of the hall, a large group of Rocky Mountain goats, comprising the old male, two females and two young, is exhibited in the next floor case. This so-called goat is an antelope related to the Asiatic goat-antelope, inhabiting almost inaccessible slopes of high mountains.

Specimens of the eastern moose, the largest existing member of the deer family, comprise the next group; these animals, taken at New Brunswick, are shown in an autumn scene characteristic of their natural habitat.
To the left is a group of American black bears and young, and just ahead a large group of American bison shows an old bull, an old cow and a young cow and calf.

Go To Next Page